Artistic gymnastics requires more than just physical skills - it demands a positive mindset and qualities like friendship, respect, and excellence. In Olympic competition, men and women each compete in different apparatuses. Scoring is determined by two groups of judges who together consider form, difficulty, and execution to calculate a final score. While Australia has never won a medal in artistic gymnastics, their best Olympic placement was 6th, and the document predicts a potential breakthrough for women's artistic gymnastics at the 2012 London Games.

1. ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS
Jacinta Bonaddio 6P 21/07/2012
Artistic gymnastics isn’t just a sport in the Olympics where people
just jump around and are flexible. To be an artistic gymnast it has to
be in your mind and you have to think positive. You have to have
qualities such as friendship, respect and excellence. Yet you still need
to be competitive.
The format of artistic gymnastics is simple. In the Olympic
competition there are 98 men and 98 women participating in this
contest. Each gender competes in different events. Men compete in
floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and high bars. Women
participate in vault, uneven bars, balance beams and floor. This
contest includes team qualification, team finals, all-around finals and
event/individual finals. All gymnasts compete in all events with only
3 of their scores counting. These scores determine the top 8 and who
advance to finals. All gymnasts, once again, must participate in all
events and the scores will decide the medalists.
There are 2 groups of judges. The first group starts at 0 and adds on
any positives. The second group begins at 10 and subtracts for the
negatives. In the end the judges add up both scores and that will be
their final score.
The first time Australia
competed in the Olympics was
1956 in Melbourne, Australia.
Australia has never won any
medals in artistic or rhythmic
gymnastics. In Sydney 2000, Ji
Wallace brought home
Australia’s first medal in men’s
trampoline, coming 2 nd. In artistic and rhythmic, their best place was
6th. In London 2012 people can see a massive breakthrough for a
women’s artistic gymnastics.

2. Gymnastics was introduced in the 1st modern Olympics in Greece,
Athens 1896. The sport has been continuous ever since. Men were
only allowed to compete in gymnastics until 1928 in Amsterdam
when women finally had the chance. Soon in 1984, rhythmic
gymnastics appeared. Then in Sydney 2000 trampoline was
introduced.
Australia’s favourite memory was when Ji Wallace brought home
Australia’s first medal in gymnastics.
In London 2012, hopefully Australia can bring home a medal in
rhythmic and artistic gymnastics. Good Luck Australia!